Botswana: Double Taxation Convention

Lord McKenzie of Luton: My right honourable friend the Paymaster General has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	A new double taxation convention with Botswana was signed on 9 September 2005. After signature, the text of the convention was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses and made available on HM Revenue and Customs' website. The text of the convention will be scheduled to a draft order in council and laid before the House of Commons in due course.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel Northern Ireland: Corporate and Business Plans

Lord Rooker: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Peter Hain) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	I have today published the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel combined corporate plan (2004/07) and business plan (2005/06). The corporate plan sets out the long-term strategic goals for the panel over the three-year period, and the business plan sets out the panel's key objectives and performance targets for the coming year. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

European Community: Specification of WIPO Treaties

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: Two World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) treaties in the fields of copyright and performances are to be specified as European Community treaties in a statutory instrument being laid before Parliament. The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) and the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) are key international agreements dealing with rights for the creative industries. The specification of these treaties will require positive resolutions in both Houses and will pave the way in due course for European Community ratification of these important international agreements and help secure rights for United Kingdom creators overseas.
	Most of the requirements of these treaties were already in place in United Kingdom law. Most of the remaining requirements were introduced with the implementation in the United Kingdom of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. This directive was implemented by the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI 2003 No. 2498). The specification of the two WIPO treaties would allow the introduction of the only remaining requirement of these treaties, moral rights for performers, by means of a further statutory instrument, which would be subject to negative resolution procedure. A draft of such a further statutory instrument accompanies the explanatory memorandum for the current statutory instrument. A public consultation exercise seeking views on how obligations on performers' moral rights should be implemented was conducted in 2005. Summary copies of the responses to the consultation exercise have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Northern Ireland: Oversight Commissioner's Report

Lord Rooker: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Shaun Woodward) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	I have today laid before this House a copy of the Oversight Commissioner's second statutory report for the year 2005 which was published on 27 September, in accordance with Section 68(4)(a) of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000. This is the fifth report compiled by Al Hutchinson as Oversight Commissioner and the fourteenth in the series of oversight reports published since 2001. I welcomed the opportunity last month to discuss the contents of the report with the Oversight Commissioner.